[March 01, 2011] BRIEF: N.H. man gets prison sentence in computer hacking case Tweet Mar 01, 2011 (Boston Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A New Hampshire man has been sentenced to 82 months in federal prison for his role in an international computer hacking conspiracy and failing to file income tax returns while living in Boston. Asu Pala, 37, was ordered to forfeit $7.9 million and pay $2.2 million in back income taxes. Pala pleaded guilty last April to one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and five counts of failure to file a U.S. income tax return. He was accused of infecting German citizens' computers from 2003 to 2007 with a program that forced their modems to dial premium telephone numbers rented from German phone companies by his co-conspirators. The phone companies charged the "callers" for added expenses on top of standard connection fees and sent a portion of the expenses to Pala's partners, who gave him a share of the proceeds. Pala was accused of employing computer programmers to write and edit the computer hacking software and sending the hacks to his co-conspirators. Upon his release from prison, he must also get counseling for substance abuse, anger management, gambling, credit debt and other financial management problems. --- [email protected] To see more of the Boston Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bostonherald.com. Copyright (c) 2011, Boston Herald Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]